Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption
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natty
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flat beer help...I just opened up a bottle of home brew having had suspicions something was wrong...ie couldn't see a yeast deposit at the bottom. and indeed my beer is flat! Tasty but disappointingly flat, especially as I made it to have good body and head retention.
Now in total there are only 18 glass bottles and I was intending them to be Christmas presents so do I open them up and drop a pinch of yeast and sugar in there and reseal? Would that work? How much to add?
I bottled on 12th sept and they have had plenty of time in warm room etc. I think the problem was down to not putting in enough sugar in the bottle (my other half's job!) - he was a little paranoid and didn't realise that if it spills over the side of the bottle it doesn't count as a full teaspoon! Anyway- any suggestions, I can't really give away flat beer!
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Treacodactyl
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Spooky, I've just done the same.  However, mines quite sweet so I think it hasn't had a chance to ferment fully so I'll just leave it somewhere warm for a while. I assume yours isn't sweeter than usual?
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natty
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no, tastes just right, not sweet at all....
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sean
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Was the cap on properly? I made a whole batch which went flat because I was using a very old crown corker which didn't actually get the caps to make a proper seal.
I've no idea about the chances of success with adding more yeast/sugar I'm afraid.
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James
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I know this may not help for christmas, but I'm now drinking a pale ale that I bottled in February. It was flat and borring a couple of months after bottling, but at 8 months old its now bone dry, allowing the full arroma of the hops to come through. Its extremely fizzy. There's been a very slow secondary fermentation thats taken many, many months to occur.
With regard to your beer, I'd be tempted to make a starter with a good brewers yeast, then add to it a bottle of beer into which a teaspoon of caster sugar has been dissolved , and transfer to a small air locked container. Then a few hours later add two more pints (with further dissolved sugar), then a few hours later add four more, increasing the size of the airlocked container. Keep on doubling the size of the fermentation until all bottles are incorporated, only adding the next lot of beer when you see conitued fermentation after the addition of the last lot. As soon as you've got all the beer fermenting well under airlock, then bottle in sterile bottles.
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natty
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I did just change to a new capper but I don't think it's not airtight. Will check though. The main thing is there is not even slight deposit at the bottom of the bottle so I suspect not much fermentation happening.
I'm going to take another look at it today and experiment a bit possibly with James's suggestion. Fingers crossed....
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